Lakeway is set to add another academic institution to its borders.
The Academic Excellence for the Scholar, Athlete and Artist, or AESA, will open its doors Aug. 23 in the Liberty Center, 107 S. RR 620, Ste. 300, Lakeway, said Barbara Garza, AESA executive head of school and president. The private, college preparatory school will be able to accommodate 100 students in first-12th grades at the 6,300-square-foot site that was formerly a Spanish immersion school.
The Lakeway location is the second AESA Prep Academy owned and founded by Garza, following the 2009 opening of the school at 13730 W. Hwy. 290, Austin, near Dripping Springs. The school offers its students flexible class schedules and small class sizes, Garza said.
The new site will also house AESA Prep International, a classroom on the second floor dedicated to an international online curriculum in which students will be accompanied by a certified teacher and use online instruction, she said. AESA also opened an enrichment program in Barcelona in 2015 and maintains a similar program in China, she said.
"This is kind of a big year for us," Garza said of the pending Lakeway opening and Barcelona campus.
Garza is a 30-year veteran educator and previously served as Dean of Students at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in the Westlake area. Kelly Jarrell, former enrichment program developer for the Austin Montessori School, will serve as the Lakeway's AESA head of school, Garza said.
The school intends to have a total of three Austin-area sites in the future, she said. The lease in Lakeway is for three years, giving administrators time to look for land to build a larger campus, she said. School officials plan to renovate the vacant school site prior to opening day, she said.
"I think [AESA] has done so well because [although] our curriculum is rigorous, our class size averages between two and eight students," Garza said. "That means individualized attention."
AESA Prep Academy's request for a special use permit is slated to be heard before Lakeway's Planning and Zoning Commission on Aug. 3.